104. The Benefits of a Portfolio Life: Fulfillment Beyond Work with Christina Wallace

Overview

Today I'm in conversation with Christina Wallace, author of the new book, The Portfolio Life: How to Futureproof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card.

This book is on point with what we explore here on the podcast, the idea of having big ambitions and navigating the natural rhythms of our life and work, while also allowing ourselves to craft these in a way that results in more joy and less stress.

What does Christina mean by a Portfolio Life? We’ll dig into that in the episode, but briefly, Christina writes in the book that Charles Handy coined the term in 1989 in his book The Age of Unreason. “He bristled at the notion that your life’s work should be one narrowly-defined job and argued that instead, it could be a collection of passions, interests, and hobbies.” Handy’s definition broadens the possibilities for your work.

Christina’s book expands that definition to include relationships, community, personal growth and impact, creating a full portfolio across work and life. In her book, Christina explains the why, what, and how: why this is so important now, what your portfolio looks like, and how to make it a reality.

In the episode, you’ll hear how the portfolio life invites you to own your agency in crafting the life you deserve.

Listen below or on your favorite podcast player.

More About Our Guest

A self-described “human Venn diagram”, Christina Wallace has crafted a career at the intersection of business, technology, and the arts. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School, where she teaches entrepreneurship and marketing. Her latest book is The Portfolio Life: How to Future-Proof Your Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Business Card.

A serial entrepreneur, Christina has built businesses in ecommerce, edtech, and media. She also co-authored New To Big: How Companies Can Create Like Entrepreneurs, Invest Like VCs, and Install a Permanent Operating System for Growth and was the co-host of The Limit Does Not Exist, an iHeart podcast with millions of downloads over 3 seasons and 125 episodes.

In her free time, she sings with various chamber choirs, embarks on adventure travel, and is an endurance athlete. She lives in Cambridge with her husband and their two children.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

The three tenets of a portfolio life
Why Christina says it’s vital to divest your identity from what you do for money
How building a diversified portfolio across life and work future proofs you from outside events and allows you to grow and evolve over time
Why Christina refers to herself as a human Venn diagram and why she believes everyone has the potential to be a Venn diagram
How Christina has edited her portfolio as her priorities around work and parenting have shifted
Why pursuing a Portfolio Life requires diligence in monitoring your capacity and giving yourself permission to shift your resources
Two tools from operations management that can help you manage your energy and capacity

Learn more about Christina Wallace

Resources Mentioned

Thanks for Listening!

Send me a voice note, ideas for what you’d like to hear on the podcast, or a question that might be read and answered here on the podcast! Go to https://bit.ly/sapodcast-ask
Or simply email a question or comment for future episodes here
Get my curated bi-weekly Sustainable Ambition Forum newsletter. Sign-up here